NEW DELHI: The seat-sharing pact between AAP and Congress in Delhi, a strategic alliance against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that was announced in several states this week, has now triggered a speculation that the leadership trio of the Grand Old Party- Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Vadra, and Sonia Gandhi – are poised to cast their votes for AAP in the 2023 Lok Sabha elections.
All three Gandhi family members have their votes registered in the New Delhi Lok Sabha constituency of Delhi. At present, the incumbent MP from this seat is Union MoS (external affairs) Meenakshi Lekhi.
Rahul, who unsuccessfully contested from Amethi while getting elected from a safe-seat Wayanad in Kerala, cast his vote at the Tughlaq Lane in 20. Similarly, Sonia, who won from Raebareli, registered her vote in New Delhi’s Nirman Bhavan. Priyanka, accompanied by her husband Robert Vadra, voted at Sardar Patel Vidyalaya in Lodhi Estate, in the 2019 general elections.
ALSO READ: AAP, Congress will contest together in 4 states, with no alliance in Punjab
Under the pact, out of the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, Congress will contest three seats, namely Chandni Chowk, North East, and North West, while AAP will vie for four seats – New Delhi, West Delhi, South Delhi, and East Delhi. This consensus was reached after extensive discussions between the two parties, as confirmed by Congress leader Mukul Wasnik.
“I am pleased that the two teams of the INDIA alliance will fight together against the BJP,” said Mukul Wasnik, emphasising the unity forged to counter the BJP’s dominance in the national capital. Currently, all seven seats in the national capital are held by BJP MLAs — each with over 50% of the vote share.
While neither party has announced candidates for any of the Delhi seats, in 2019, the saffron outfit, riding on the second Modi wave, had scripted a clean sweep in the national capital, winning all seven seats with a total vote share of 56.9%. This, despite the fact, that AAP went on to win assembly elections with equally comfortable margin in the 2020 polls, relegating BJP to second position and Congress to the third ever since Sheila Dikshit government saw defeat in 2013.
ALSO READ: Congress, AAP to jointly announce Delhi seat-sharing pact today for Lok Sabha polls 2024
Wihle BJP’s Dr Harsh Vardhan secured victory in Chandni Chowk, defeating Congress’s Jai Prakash Agarwal by a margin of 23%, Manoj Tiwari won North East Delhi seat with a margin of 25% against Congress’s Sheila Dikshit. Meenakshi Lekhi emerged victorious in New Delhi, defeating Ajay Maken with a margin of 27.8%, while Gautam Gambhir clinched East Delhi, securing a significant 31.11% margin against Arvinder Singh Lovely.
Congress and AAP secured the second and third positions with 22.5% and 18.1% of total votes, respectively. Given this electoral landscape, the alliance between Congress and AAP aims to challenge the BJP’s stronghold.
Both the parties will contest together in Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, and Haryana, while there will be no alliance between them in Punjab as they will contest all 13 seats independently.
Delhi’s significance in the upcoming General Elections of 2024 is underscored by its seven Lok Sabha seats, the highest among union territories. The historical voting patterns and the recent alliance aim to alter the political landscape, challenging the BJP’s dominance.
